Bee Bread Ameliorates Vascular Inflammation and Impaired Vasorelaxation in Obesity-Induced Vascular Damage Rat Model: The Role of eNOS/NO/cGMP-Signaling Pathway

Obesity and hyperlipidemia are major risk factors for developing vascular diseases. Bee bread (BB) has been reported to exhibit some biological actions, including anti-obesity and anti-hyperlipidemic. This study aims to investigate whether bee bread can ameliorate vascular inflammation and impaired vasorelaxation activity through eNOS/NO/cGMP pathway in obese rats. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 10/group), namely: control (normal group), obese rats (OB group), obese rats treated with bee bread (0.5 g/kg/day, OB/BB group) and obese rats treated with orlistat (10 mg/kg/day, OB/OR group). The latter three groups were given a high-fat diet (HFD) for 6 weeks to induced obesity before being administered with their respective treatments for another 6 weeks. After 12 weeks of the total experimental period, rats in the OB group demonstrated significantly higher Lee obesity index, lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein), aortic proinflammatory markers (tumor necrosis factor-α, nuclear factor-κβ), aortic structural damage and impairment in vasorelaxation response to acetylcholine (ACh). Bee bread significantly ameliorated the obesity-induced vascular damage manifested by improvements in the lipid profile, aortic inflammatory markers, and the impaired vasorelaxation activity by significantly enhancing nitric oxide release, promoting endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) immunoexpression. These findings suggest that the administration of bee bread ameliorates the impaired vasorelaxation response to ACh by improving eNOS/NO/cGMP-signaling pathway in obese rats, suggesting its vascular therapeutic role.     

Controlling thickness to tune performance of high-mobility transparent conducting films deposited from Ga-doped ZnO ceramic target

Structure modification has been found to tune significantly the transparent-conducting performance, especially mobility and conductivity of hydrogenated Ga-doped ZnO (HGZO) films. The strong correlation between film thickness and mobility of the films is revealed. The mobility increases quickly with increasing the thickness from 350 to 900 nm, and then tends to be saturated at further thicknesses. A higher mobility than 50 cm²/Vs can be achieved, which is an extra-high value for polycrystalline ZnO films deposited by using the sputtering technique. The thickness-dependent mobility originates from scatterings on grain boundaries and dislocation-induced defects controlled by thin-film growth. Based on the Volmer-Weber model, an expansion model is built up to describe the thickness-dependent crystal growth of the HGZO films, especially at the thick films. As a result, the 800 nm-thick HGZO film obtains the highest performance with high mobility of 51.5 cm²/Vs, low resistivity of 5.3 × 10^?4 Ωcm, and good transmittance of 83.3 %.     

Effect of milling on the anisotropic grain growth in a sintered Ba5Nb4O15 specimen and its effect on microwave dielectric properties

In this study, relationships between the processing, microstructure, and properties of barium niobate (Ba₅Nb₄O₁₅) are investigated. The milling of a Ba₅Nb₄O₁₅ powder in water is effective with respect to size reduction. However, after milling in water, BaCO₃ is formed within the slurry. With the increase in the amount of BaCO₃ formed, the aspect ratio of the elongated Ba₅Nb₄O₁₅ grains increases. The formation of the elongated Ba₅Nb₄O₁₅ grains prohibits the densification. Hence, the microwave dielectric properties, including permittivity and quality factor, are poor because of the low density. In addition, milling in ethanol is carried out for comparison: A lower amount of BaCO₃ is formed after milling in ethanol; the extent of anisotropic grain growth is thus reduced.     

A stochastic reward net-based assessment of reliability,availability and operational cost for a software-defined network infrastructure

The Journal of Supercomputing - The networking infrastructure of a software-defined network (SDN) requires further study to achieve continuity and high availability of data transactions for cloud...     

Temperature-dependent Raman scattering and photoluminescence in YBa_2Cu_3O_7 doped with SiO_2 and Zn_(0.95)Mn_(0.05)O nanoparticles:comparative study

A combined study examining the temperature dependencies of Raman scattering and photoluminescence(PL)of a YBa_2 Cu_3 O_7(YBCO)matrix doped with SiO2(12 nm;0.01 wt%.,0.10 wt%)and Zn_(0.95)Mn_(0.05)O(20 nm;0.02 wt%,0.10 wt%)nanoparticles was presented.X-ray diffraction(XRD)analysis confirms that both YBCO types exhibit aperovskite structure with the orthorhombic Pmmm phase.The microstructure was examined using environmental scanning electron microscopy(ESEM).Raman scattering and photoluminescence measurements as functions of temperature were conducted in the 77-837 K range.The photoluminescence intensity is observed to decrease for the doped YBCO than for the pure YBCO,because of localized defects.The photoluminescence spectrum is primarily composed of three bands at 1.60,1.88,and 2.40 eV.A clearly pronounced correlation is observed between electronic and structural changes in the doped YBCO,which is due to the temperature,illumination,added oxygen or metal ions,and spectral parameters.The PL integrated intensity as a function of the inverse temperature was simulated using the Arrhenius model.This analysis reveals that the energy exchange between the different levels in the pure and doped YBCO was conducted via two vibration modes only,which are strongly linked to the oxygen and copper atoms in the YBCO matrix.The temperature dependencies of the modes at 340 and 500 cm~(-1) exhibit softening with temperature increase,resulting from microstructure control,which may be due to small concentrations of Si,Zn,and Mn substitutions at the chain Cu(1)and plane Cu(2)sites.     

Synthesis and Application of Novel Nano Fe-BTC/GO Composites as Highly Efficient Photocatalysts in the Dye Degradation

Topics in Catalysis - Nano Fe-BTC/graphene oxide (GO) composites were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal treatment with a microwave-assisted method. Samples were characterized by X-ray...     

Photocatalytic degradation and heat reflectance recovery of waterborne acrylic polymer/ZnO nanocomposite coating

This work aims to clarify the photocatalytic degradation mechanism and heat reflectance recovery performance of waterborne acrylic polymer/ZnO nanocomposite coating. To fabricate the nanocomposite coating, ZnO nanoparticles (nano-ZnO) were dispersed into acrylic polymer matrix at the various concentrations from 1 to 6% (by total weight of resin solids). The photocatalytic degradation of nanocomposite coating under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation has been investigated by monitoring its weight loss and chemical/microstructural/morphological changes. As the topcoat layer, its heat reflectance recovery has been evaluated under UV/condensation exposure by using an artificial dirty mixture of 85 wt% nanoclay, 10 wt% silica particles (1–5 μm), 1 wt% carbon black, and 2 wt% engine oil. After 108-cycle UV/condensation exposure, infrared spectra and weight loss analysis indicated that the maximal degradation for nanocomposite coating is observed at 1 wt% nano-ZnO. On the other hand, after 96 hr of UV light exposure, the nanocomposite coating with1 wt% nano-ZnO could restore effectively the reflective index of solar-heat reflectance coating (from 58.45 to 80.78%). Finally, the photodegradation mechanism of this waterborne acrylic polymer coating has been proposed as the UV-induced formation of CC CO conjugated double bonds. As a result, its self-cleaning phenomenon can be achieved as the recovery of heat reflectance.     

Carbonaceous microsphere-based superabsorbent polymer as filler for coating of NPK fertilizer: Fabrication,properties, swelling,and nitrogen release characteristics

Recently, the use of controlled release fertilizers in agriculture has resulted in huge benefits in plant growth and cultivation. Superabsorbent polymer (SAP)-coated fertilizers have the added advantage in retaining water in soil after irrigation and also reduce the nutrient release rate from soil in a controlled manner. This study aimed to produce a nitrogen–phosphorus–potassium (NPK) fertilizer coated with superabsorbent carbonaceous microspheres polymer (SPC) by inverse suspension polymerization method with water-retention and controlled release properties. Two sets of experiments were conducted: (1) three different weight percentages and (2) different materials. NPK coated with SPC showed increasing water-retention ability with respect to carbon microsphere percentages and retains >80% water at the 30th day of experiment compared with pure NPK and NPK coated with SAP. The slow release behavior of all samples was investigated by induced coupled plasma mass spectrometry spectrometry and results showed that NPK coated with SAP and SPC has a low release rate with <50% nutrient release compared with uncoated NPK at the 30th day. The release mechanism kinetics of NPK coated with SAP and SPC were studied based on the Kosmeyer–Peppas model. The mechanisms approached Fickian diffusion-controlled release as the n value for both samples was less than 0.5. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48396.